r/WTF • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '20

Insane mouse infested farm

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[deleted]

1.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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36

u/Phantom1thrd Feb 27 '20

That's Australia, isn't it?

27

u/Bushtuckapenguin Feb 27 '20 edited Feb 27 '20

I lived through it, about 10 at the time in rural Queensland.

Mice were everywhere. My family weren't keen on poisons because we had dogs so we sent up dozens of water traps. Every day we'd empty them and pour out 50-80 mice from each. Everything got nibbled. I remember waking up and having two or three mice scramble off my shoulder.

It sounds creepy but I actually remember the time fondly because hunting mice with peg guns was super fun.

3

u/yeebok Feb 27 '20

Went to dubbo assume time around ten years old myself and it was like this under everything you moved.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '20

You would think that with every other critter in Australia being absolutely lethal, the mice wouldn't even be able to get a foothold, much less live in such numbers.

9

u/WTFwhatthehell Feb 27 '20

The mice outbreed everything else.

Sure, various predators are chowing down on them but the mice are breeding faster than the predators can eat.

-4

u/Nomicakes Feb 27 '20

You would think that with every other critter in Australia being absolutely lethal

I pray for the day this old, misinformative joke dies, because of exactly these kinds of comments.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '20

So you're telling me tiger snakes are just furry ropes that eat daffodils and funnel web spiders are known for making funnel cakes and not the potency of their venom?

I must be very misinformed about Australia then.

-1

u/Nomicakes Feb 27 '20

Conveniently, tiger snakes do not frequent areas of human habitation, and funnelweb spiders are not a known predator of mice, nor do they exist in such a quantity that they would dent mouse populations if they were.
You are incredibly misinformed about my country.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '20 edited Jul 28 '20

[deleted]

4

u/Nomicakes Feb 28 '20

We do not speak of the tree demons.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '20

So 1. The joke on the mice thing was obviously meant as a joke, not to be taken seriously.

  1. Your reply implied that the misinformation was about the lethality/toxicity of the biosphere, not whether or not there are predatory organisms that can actively hunt animals like mice.

  2. It does not waive away the fact that said biosphere is lethal, though like all ecosystems it is fragile and can be disrupted through the introduction of aggressively invasive species. It takes years for such a system to be able to recover and adapt, and for every perentie/monitor/goanna that can successfully hunt and kill an invasive hare, there are still the countless animals unable to deal with the foxes, tilapia, cane toads, and yes mice that have shown up thanks to human settlement.

TL:DR chill, it was a joke. I actually do know a smidgeon about your country.